ACCENT expands Jamaican operations

ACCENT Marketing Services LLC is recruiting 103 customer-service representatives and support staff for a new office to open in Montego Bay in May.

The office will provide support for an unnamed overseas client, identified only as a manufacturer.

ACCENT, an American company based in Indiana, conducts business in Jamaica through local subsidiary ACCENT Marketing Jamaica Limited, said president and COO Linda Ruffenach on Tuesday.

Ruffenach told Wednesday Business that the company established its first Caribbean office in Kingston in 2006 and currently employs 592 at that location.

To facilitate its expansion to Montego Bay, the company has leased a 400-seat customer engagement centre at 1 Mangrove Way in the Montego Free Zone.

"The site is currently being renovated, and we expect to conduct our first training class in May. Once the Montego Bay facility is launched, we will employ 103 customer-service representatives and support staff at its inception," said Ruffenach.

"In total, we expect to employ 695 people in Jamaica across both locations," she said.

ACCENT Marketing Services was founded two decades ago in 1993. Ruffenach said the company is fully owned by MDC Partners Inc, a provider of marketing communications services to clients in North America, Europe, and Latin America.

MDC Partners' Class A shares are publicly traded on the NASDAQ under the symbol 'MDCA' and on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol 'MDZ.SV.A'.

ACCENT's additional facility in Montego Bay is driven by client demand, said the company's president.

It will support "the manufacturer's portfolio of consumer electronics products across phone, email, and chat channels. We are thrilled and honoured to have earned the right to once again grow with this client, add new talent to our organisation, and expand our Caribbean footprint," said Ruffenach.

Since 2010, ACCENT has experienced a 60 per cent Compounded Annual Growth Rate in Jamaica, Ruffenach said. She declined comment on the investments made in Jamaica to date.

ACCENT Jamaica is the group's third largest site. The group operates in the United States (US) and Jamaica.

In 2009, the company brought its first US-based client to Jamaica, providing customer care and technical support on behalf of a global consumer electronics manufacturer. Since then, the programme has grown from a 25-seat pilot to a 200-seat programme.